440 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
reaching all parts of the Lower Peninsula before the end of March in ordinary 
seasons. At Lansing the males commonly arrive between the 10th and 20th 
of March and the females follow a week or ten days later. Nesting does not 
begin until May, and even in the southern part of thestate probably not many 
eggs are laid before the middle of that month, while in the northern part of 
the state the first eggs are found the latter part of May and first of June. 
Undoubtedly a great many of the birds rear second broods in July, but this 
habit is not universal and it is difficult to say to what proportion it applies. 
The species is more or less polygamous, a single male often mating with 
two, three, or possibly more females and driving other males away from 
the immediate vicinity. 
Tig. 100. ted-winged Blackbird. Adult Male. 
From Farmers’ Bulletin No. 13, Biological Survey, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
The nest is commonly a somewhat bulky and substantial structure 
woven out of coarse grasses and weeds and lined with finer material of the 
same kind. It is most often attached to the stalks of grass, reeds or flags 
at heights ranging from a few inches to several feet above the water, or 
in rarer instances above the ground. Not infrequently nests are placed 
in wild rose bushes, low willows or other slender shrubs growing in water, 
and more rarely in a tree of some kind at a height of a dozen feet or more. 
Occasionally nests are found placed close to the ground or even directly 
upon it, but this is exceptional. 
The eggs are three to six, most often four or five, and are greenish or 
bluish white variously dotted, spotted and often pen marked with brown, 
purple, lavender and black. They average .97 by .67 inches. The birds 
